GNU gettext - Bugs: bug #56863, gettext.h license is viral
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bug #56863: gettext.h license is viral
Submitter: | Petr Pisar <petrp> | ||
Submitted: | Fri 06 Sep 2019 08:30:53 AM UTC | ||
Category: | Programmer interface | Severity: | 3 - Normal |
Item Group: | None | Status: | In Progress |
Privacy: | Public | Assigned to: | haible |
Open/Closed: | Open |
Sun 02 Feb 2020 08:18:07 PM UTC, comment #3: |
Bruno Haible <haible>![]() ![]() |
Sun 02 Feb 2020 06:22:33 PM UTC, comment #2: I'm not aware of any such standard. I know only about another project with a similar exception and that is Libtool.
LGPL allows including LGPL-licensed header files into other code without enforcing LGPL conditions, but there are constrains what such header file can contain. Especially there is a limit of 10 lines for the inline functions. If I look at dcpgettext_expr() definition I can count 28 lines.
I'm not a layer. I recommend you asking Free Software Foundation for help. I think they should be able to provide a qualified answer. |
Petr Pisar <petrp> |
Fri 31 Jan 2020 09:00:44 PM UTC, comment #1: Is there a standard for this sort of exception that applies to alternatives to Autoconf as well?
Or perhaps it would be better to use the same license as libintl.h? (LGPL?) |
pastdue |
Fri 06 Sep 2019 08:30:53 AM UTC, original submission:
Gettext manual recommends copying gettext.h from Gettext into a gettextized software and including it from the software sources. This has the consequence that the resulting executable contains gettext.h code and this is subject to gettext.h license.
gettext.h reads:
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
That means that any software that follow this procedure must obey to the GPL license. This is pretty inconvenient, especially for software that uses a different license, e.g. LGPL.
A similar issue has already been raised seven years ago <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gettext/2012-09/msg00000.html> without any answer.
What's your opinion? Would you be so kind and change the gettext.h license to something more compatible, e.g. GPLv3 with an exception clause as used in Many autotools files? E.g. config.sub looks like:
# This file is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
|
Petr Pisar <petrp> |
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Follow 3 latest changes.
Date | Changed by | Updated Field | Previous Value | => | Replaced by |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019-09-14 | haible | Category | Other | ![]() |
Programmer interface |
Status | None | ![]() |
In Progress | ||
Assigned to | None | ![]() |
haible |
I have asked the Free Software Foundation (in September 2019). But it takes them a long time to provide a qualified answer.